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Villa Park redevelopment


Phumfeinz

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1 hour ago, blunther said:

Amsterdam gets about a billion tourists a year though. Birmingham gets 12.

How dare you. Birmingham is the jewel of...

 

Ah, fair enough.

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On 03/08/2019 at 11:21, Robtaylor200 said:

We have only just started filling the stadium again and not every week. I think its far to early to discuss expansion

Obviously the owners have to balance the cost of rebuilding against how long hopefully filling an extra 10,000 seats will take to get a return on the investment 

extra 10,000 seats x £35 if we fill them £350,000  20 games returns £7m. long way to go to get a return on a rebuild

IMO Fill in the corners for now with restricted viewing and see where we are in a couple of years 

I get your basic point Rob, however I think with a half decent season we will sell out most games. There lies the problem, say we could have sold an extra  5 to 10000 tickets, a number of those will become regulars. If they can never get tickets, you never get them. 

It’s not just the ticket price you get, fans spend on food and drinks whilst there and in the club shop. A young lad or lass that goes to Villa Park and becomes hooked, as a lot of us did many years ago, is a customer for life. They’ll pester their parents for all things Villa. They become more than just a plastic MU fan who watches on Sky. They buy in and become emotionally attached.

The kids in the play ground in their Chelsea shirts become second class supporters to the kids who have been to Villa Park. Felt that excitement when they first saw the oh so green pitch and look up in wide eyed wonderment when the Holte End bursts into life.

They gain another family, they become part of Villa, instantly gaining tens of thousands of big brothers and sisters. Jack Grealish is real!! Tyrone Mings is so big he’s almost unreal! You know because you were there, you don’t just support Villa you’re part of the pride. You feel it, you can even smell it. How did it feel from your lounge Chelsea boy?

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There's absolutely no need to redevelop Villa Park or build a new stadium right now. If we can sustain the interest and the numbers through the door at Villa Park for 2-3 seasons then I'm sure it will start to be looked at.

Currently there's huge demand for tickets, but over the last 3 seasons in the Championship and before that in the dismal PL seasons our average attendances haven't warranted expansion at all.

I'm interested to see (not that I want it to happen) if results go against us for a period this season how the attendances react.

We have a pretty fickle fanbase at times and the owners would have to be sure an investment in expansion would be worth the money.

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1 hour ago, limpid said:

obviously not sure how many of them travel in to the city via the M6 but if the club can find a viable way of making them stop at VP on their route then it may draw in some interest on non match days but the proximity to the motorway should definitely be a target for the club, you don't need all of them to spend money at VP just a larger number than there currently is (which I don't think will be hard)

the problem is the infrastructure isn't there to get day trippers from VP to the city centre

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There's not a lot wrong with Villa Park functionally. We don't really need to increase capacity (yet). The biggest 'issue' is pretty much cosmetic - the North Stand is an eyesore and stadium generally is a bit... bland on the outside.

The only other major factor in play is the area and the infrastructure. Aston is Aston, it's changed a lot from the days Villa Park was first established obviously and even in the days from within many fans lifetimes. The area needs significant regeneration (as does much of the city) and that's pretty much out of the club's hands, although obviously it can try to influence cash coming into the area and trying to make Villa Park a draw. And infrastructure is an issue with the city generally and is something that is being worked on across the city as we speak, though it's difficult to say when Aston will really see much benefit.

With that all in mind, Villa Park isn't going to change all that much for the time being. The work to getting to that point is going to be taking place in meetings for the foreseeable, and the actual impact on the stadium is likely to just be minor spruce ups, like the North Stand fascias. Once there's a need for it, the North Stand is the obvious candidate for demolition and redevelopment, but at the moment there isn't a need for it.

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13 minutes ago, Chindie said:

There's not a lot wrong with Villa Park functionally. We don't really need to increase capacity (yet). The biggest 'issue' is pretty much cosmetic - the North Stand is an eyesore and stadium generally is a bit... bland on the outside.

I disagree. The facilities inside are a million-miles away from what you get in modern stadiums. When you look at the amount of cash it brings in the likes of Spurs and Arsenal, plus how much it improves the match day experience and encourages casual fans, I think it's a big issue. It also encourages people to get there earlier/stay later, which helps with the congestion on top of the financial benefits.

Pitch-side, the ground is great, but the concourses are shit, and there's nowhere near enough space to bring them up to par with other stadiums. 

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1 hour ago, wilko154 said:

over the last 3 seasons in the Championship and before that in the dismal PL seasons our average attendances haven't warranted expansion at all.

I'm interested to see (not that I want it to happen) if results go against us for a period this season how the attendances react.

The below average playing performances and the dull / negative / clueless "tactics" caused the attendance drop.  So be addressing that - playing exciting, attacking football (even if we are still in the bottom half of the table) attendances would almost certainly improve.  I think people would be more forgiving of indifferent results if they could see a team trying to play good football, trying to be entertaining, trying to build for the future.  I think most people who stopped attending probably just got bored with watching the same old **** every week with managers and players who were not expecting to win before a ball was even kicked.  The new regime already looks like it is different - I think it will take more than a few bad results for fans to stay away - as long as we are trying to play good, exciting football.  Then, if the Board are expecting results to follow and for us be aiming to break into the top third of the Premier League within a short(ish) time frame, you need the numbers to go up again in order to help pay for the further development of the team.  Better to do that and have the disruption now so that by the time we are ready to make the next step we have the facilities and income in place?  It is a risk - spend the money now, don't get the performance improvement and you don't get the return on investment.  But the ROI will be much better now than if we wait for 3 seasons until we are (hopefully) regularly back in the fight for European places.

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4 hours ago, Davkaus said:

Look how far off claret the skip is. Doesn't match the branding at all. Sack the board.

Never mind the colour of the skip look at how dark blue the bins are - totally wrong shade.  On the plus - the green bin is a nice shade for the keepers top.

 

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1 hour ago, Junxs said:

^That's one ugly stadium. Looks more like a factory from the outside

It certainly has character! It’s brick facade would remind some of the Holte End and old Trinity Road stand but there can be ugly brick buildings too. Obviously the interior facilities and most seating would exceed Villa Park standards, but what does it look like actually being outside it? Irrelevant as it is (we’re not about to build a new stadium), I would definitely like to see it myself before deciding.

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